Saw: Ripple Effect
by JunKing
Summary: Three people wake up in a room after being kidnapped, their goal: find and destroy the source of the bomb inside the room before two minutes run out...This is kind of a short story teaser for my upcoming Saw: Death By Karma fic. Please leave comments.


**Ripple Effect  
**

Lauryn woke up to the smell of dried up chloroform on her upper lip. She didn't know where she was, in fact she couldn't even see. Darkness surrounded everything around her, engulfing her mind in a sense of panic. _Where am I? _The last thing she remembered, she was in bed asleep waiting for her husband to get home. She had woken up to a strange sound in the bedroom, something that resembled nails on a chalk board. It was coming from her window...she remembered kicking off the blankets, the cold air from the ceiling fan brushing against her bare legs and feet. Her body began to slightly quiver, and it she realized that it wasn't from the cold. It was from fear...there was another sound in the house now, coming up right behind her. Before she could even turn around, cold gloved hands wrapped around her neck and torso. A wet rag covered her mouth and nose and then everything faded to black.

Now, she sat up slowly in the blackness. Her instincts told her to check her body, make sure there was nothing wrong. Pressing her palms against her neck, she ran them slowly down her barely clothed body, examining every muscle and bone thoroughly. After a few moments, she was relieved to feel no immediate pain anywhere. Other than the bruises on her neck, she felt nothing more. A sigh left her lips as she ran a hand through her long auburn hair. _Now what? _

She thought to move about and locate a light switch somewhere in the room, but decided against it seeing as how she didn't know what she might bump into or trip over. Instead, she quietly cleared her throat and lightly called out, "Hello...?" Nothing gave her any response. That's when she suddenly felt colder; the thought of being alone in such a dark place sent a shiver up her spine. She was still wearing her night clothes which consisted of nothing but a red tank top and black panties. She felt naked with the cold practically sinking in through her shirt. Before she could do anything else, a gasp echoed nearby. The sudden sound made her jump. Seconds later, she heard the voice of another woman begin to speak.

"What the fuck...? What the fuck?!"

"Hey! Who are you??" asked Lauryn in a somewhat hopeful tone. At least now she knew she wasn't alone in this place.

"'Fuck you mean who am I? Who are you, bitch?! Did you do this to me?!" yelled the other woman.

"I didn't do anything, I was taken by somebody and woke up here. What about you?"

"I-I can't remem-...wait...a car pulled up next to me and somebody jumped out. That's the last thing I remember..."

"It must've been the same guy. Listen, my name is Lauryn and I'm a nurse. Are you injured?" The other woman went silent for a second before answering back.

"No, I think I'm fine." As soon as the woman finished her sentence, a green light buzzed to life in the middle of the room. As if a curtain had been pulled back, everything came into focus once the two women had adjusted to the sudden brightness. The walls of the room were cold steel and several rusted pipes lined them. Broken wooden chairs and tables sat collapsed all across the molded carpet. Cobwebs and chipped paint dangled from the ceiling and across the room, a metal door was bolted shut. Lauryn could finally see who she had been talking to. It was a woman who looked to be around her age, maybe a little bit younger. She had brown skin and short black hair. Hoop earrings dangled from her ears and her outfit resembled that of a hooker's. Wearing knee-high black leather boots and a dark blue mini dress, the woman raised up slowly from the ground. Her eyes left Lauryn's and darted to one of the corners. "Oh my god..." she said.

Lauryn followed her path and saw what had surprised her.

...

Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "Robert?!" she called out.

"Wait, how do you know who he is?!" cried the black woman.

"He's my husband!"

"What?!"

Robert lay on the ground in the corner, not yet awake. "Robert!!" yelled Lauryn as she jumped to her feet and ran over to him. She knelt down on her knees and shook her husband. "Robert, Robert, come on sweetie, wake up." He stirred slightly, groaning quietly as he reached for the back of his head.

"Ohh....Lauryn...?" he said.

"Is he okay?" asked the other woman as she kept her distance. Hearing her voice, Robert slowly turned in her direction and squinted his eyes to see her. After a moment of processing everything, his eyes widened.

"Shannon??" His voice sounded shocked as well as guilty. Quickly, he caught himself and looked away from her. Lauryn, curious as to how the two seemed to know each other, looked at Shannon before her eyes traveled back to Robert.

"Robert, how...?" Several possibilities ran through her mind. Robert had been distant lately...the late nights, the constant overtime, the lack of affection...no. There was no way...there was no way that Robert was cheating on her with this woman. She bit her lower lip and looked into his eyes, searching for any kind of falsehood. Quickly, he looked away from her and thought of what to say. It was that moment that Lauryn already felt confirmed in her silent accusations. Pushing her tears aside, she left his side and walked towards the door. Shannon stood in silence, unsure if she should go over to her lover. Lauryn searched frantically for a way out of the room, having seen that the door would not budge. "Fuck!!"

Suddenly, there was another sound. Static filled the room for a brief second before the three realized that an old television set had just come to life. A doll of some sort appeared, turning its head slowly to face them.

"What the fuck?" Shannon said as she backed away. Robert rose to his feet and looked towards his wife. Lauryn made brief eye contact with him before turning her attention back to the screen. Then, the puppet spoke.

"Hello. The three of you are probably wondering where you are and what is happening. The answer is simple. You are in a room that will change your lives forever and choices will have to be made. Robert, by now your wife has no doubt realized what you've been up to.

"Lauryn, the people in front of you are guilty of breaking a vow, as well as a promise. But you yourself should know this, seeing as how your marriage was already built from a previous adulterous relationship. Isn't it amazing how one person's actions can affect multiple people's lives around them?

"Well today, I give you all a chance... a chance to set things right. In this room, there is a bomb. The three of you will have to put aside your differences to survive because the only way out of this room, is to find the source of the bomb, and destroy it within two minutes. Live or die, make your choice." The television faded to black and a red timer appeared, beginning its countdown.

The three remained silent and looked at each other. They would have to trust one another to find the source. "What're we going to do?" asked Shannon.

"We find the source and worry about this other shit later." responded Lauryn as she brushed violently past Robert and began looking around.

"We have to hurry." said Robert as he joined in the search, trying his best to avoid the tension in the air. Shannon started to flip the tables over, looking for the source. Sweat ran down Lauryn's brow as she frantically sorted through the old furniture. Robert pressed his hands against the walls, looking for any hidden spots. Suddenly, Shannon saw something underneath one of the tables. It was a piece of white paper taped to the bottom. She knelt down and ripped it off, turning it over to read its message: _One of you is responsible. _Her eyes widened and she paused to look at Lauryn. She knew Robert wouldn't do something like this, so it had to be her. She must've found out about the affair and was doing this as some sick sort of punishment. For all she knew, Lauryn could've set this whole thing up. Silently, Shannon broke off one of the heavy table legs and rose back to her feet.

"Anybody find anything yet?!" Robert yelled in panic, fear beginning to set in as the timer continued to count down. Lauryn's breathing rate increased as she too was beginning to feel the danger looming around the corner. If they didn't find this thing before that timer ran out, then they'd all be dead. Turning around to look somewhere else, she was surprised to see Shannon swing the heavy piece of wood at her head. She barely dodged it in time and the wood smashed into a dirty mirror behind her, shattering it to pieces.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" she yelled as Shannon continued to swing at her without explanation.

"It's you, bitch, it's you! You did this!!" Shannon cried. Robert ran in and tried to grab the weapon from his mistress, but was stunned when she accidentally hit him in the face with it while trying to swing at Lauryn again. Yelling in pain, he stumbled backwards and fell to the ground and held his nose as blood began to drip out of it.

"Robert!" cried Shannon as she lowered her guard to see what she had done. As soon as she turned her head, Lauryn tackled her around the waist and slammed her into the wall, taking the air out of her. The force of the impact made her drop the weapon. Quickly, she locked her fingers together to form one big fist and slammed it into the back of Lauryn's neck. The woman released her grip and stumbled backwards, reaching for where she'd been hit. Shannon wasted no time in thrusting her heel into her face. Lauryn yelled out in pain and turned her back to her attacker. Regaining her strength, she spun around and grabbed for whatever she could on Shannon's body. The first thing she grabbed a hold of was her hoop earrings. Violently, she ripped them out of the woman's ear lobes, causing Shannon to scream in agony as she began to bleed all down her neck.

In a last ditch effort to kill her, Shannon reached for a broken shard of glass from the mirror behind her and lunged at Lauryn again. Moving out of the way of the attack, Lauryn grabbed Shannon by the head and viciously snapped her neck. Shannon's now lifeless body hit the ground as the timer came closer to its deadline. Robert froze in shock as he backed away from her corpse. Catching a glimpse of the timer, Lauryn quickly returned to her search for the source of the bomb. That's when she heard it. A feint beeping sound began to echo, followed by a gasp from Robert. She turned towards the sound, ready to destroy whatever it was before time ran out.

...

"Oh my god..." she whispered once she saw the source. It was Robert...the beeping sound was coming from his body. She watched in horror as he lifted his shirt to reveal stitches, where their kidnapper probably implanted the bomb. 10 seconds left...something had to be done...

"Lauryn..." said Robert as he pleaded with her through his eyes. 8 seconds...

"I..." Lauryn began to say. 5 seconds...

Her survival instincts took over, there was no more thoughts of marriage or even humanity, there was only the desire to leave this cold, dark room alive. She knelt down and picked up the wooden table leg that Shannon had tried to kill her with and moved towards her husband, raising it high over her head ready to deliver the blow that would stop the bomb and save her life...

Robert's voice echoed through her ears as she made her choice.

"LAURYN!!!!!"

**Author's Note: So this is the first thing I've written in awhile. It was more of a practice piece for me so that I could get into writing again. This scene most likely won't be in Saw: Death by Karma but it's just a teaser for the kinds of ideas I will be using in that fic. Please let me know what you thought so I can fix things for the story. Thank you for reading!**


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